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I'm surprised the Pontiac Fiero (especially the GT) didn't make this list! The 1988 model is especially hard to find.
yeah the 87-88 Gt model was nice but the the stigma from the early model catching fire and them being so underpowred really killed them I belive the 2.5 Iron duke and 2.8 V-6 found in the GT version were also found in the base model S-10 pick-up trucks and the 1988 models are also rare becasue the 1988 Fiero brought a new suspension design, thought by many to have a striking resemblance to those designed by Loutus, which at the time, was about to be acquired by GM.
I'm surprised the Pontiac Fiero (especially the GT) didn't make this list! The 1988 model is especially hard to find.
That's partially because the '88 had the lowest production volume, and partially because the '88 is the only year the Fiero didn't ride and handle like a chuck wagon. Nobody who has an '88 wants to get rid of it.
I remember that, in the 1980s, you could get some wild hardware in Japan that never made it to the US. One that I recall fondly was the late '80s Mitsubishi Gallant VR-4. Although a version of this one made it to the US later, the first ones had a HO turbo motor, 4WD, 4WS and were absolute hoonmobiles.
And to be utterly fair, my '82 Chevette (a crap car by most reasonable measures) was a decent performer after managing it's emissions gear, swapping the carb and putting decent tires on it. As odd as it sounds, I regularly smoked E30 BMWs from stop lights, much to their driver's amazement.
This is frankly an awful blog. No wonder, since it's written by one of their interns and not a pro. It's awful because there's almost no prose/narrative to go along with the list, some of the values are questionable and - perhaps most importantly - the title is wrong.
These aren't "dream cars" by any stretch of the imagination. They're desirable and some are iconic to various extents, but that's not the same thing. Actually some, like the DeLorean, are arguably not even desirable (how many people would want to own a DeLorean?).
Call the list what it is, a list of cheap to moderately priced 80's performance cars. Hot hatches and pony cars aren't dream cars - even new they're attainable by (or not too far out of reach from) average new car buyers. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing - but practically attainable is by definition the opposite of "dreamy"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leaving123
I guess we all dream differently as the 1980's were actually a low point for production car engineering !
It was the aftermath of the 1970s (1973 onwards to be precise). Things did pick up in the latter half of the decade. In terms of "dream cars" the decade did only have a few, like the 288 GTO, F40, 959, etc. Pretty much everything else made by Ferrari, Porsche, Lambo, etc. was bettered in the 90s. Same goes for the Japanese imports (Supra, RX7, 300ZX, 3000GT, etc).
In terms of technology and innovation, a lot of new ideas did start (or start to proliferate) in the 80s: F/I, AWD, LSD, ABS, airbags, traction control, computer-aided design, wind-tunnel testing, etc etc. We also saw the start of "factory tuned" imports, like the GTI, E30 M3 and E28 M5. It's something we take for granted now, with AMG and Audi's S/RS cars, but it started back in the 80s (if you discount the isolated examples of the 60s and 70s like the 300SEL 6.3 and 450SEL 6.9)
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